Is Stiliyan Petrov the Right DMF for Manchester United?

Manchester United look like a pretty complete squad at the moment.

They've got Van der Sar in between the sticks for at least another season. His performances speak for themselves.

They've got arguably the best CB defence-pairing in the Premier League (and perhaps all of Europe) and one of the best LB's around.

Even with the loss of Cristiano Ronaldo and Tevez, United have still got two forwards that can give any defence a severe headache in Berbatov and Rooney. Not to mention Michael Owen who, in my humble opinion, is a better striker than Tevez.

All that leaves is the midfield. And that's where some questions need to be answered.

It would appear as though the 4-4-2 will be the formation of choice for Sir Alex Ferguson in the '09-'10 season.

In that case, the starting back four and the forward two shouldn't be in any doubt, but how will the midfield look?

Most fans would say that the midfield should consist of (starting from LM):

Nani------Anderson------Carrick------Valencia

But if that were the case, then the midfield would be bereft of a player capable of disrupting the opposition's play, much like Roy Keane used to.

Nani, Anderson, and Valencia are all attack-minded players and not exactly known for their defending. Carrick, although a great passer of the ball, is not truly capable of breaking down play as is necessary either.

Of course, United has Darren Fletcher who is more adept at doing so, but where would he fit in? Who do you take out to put him in, Anderson or Carrick?

And then there is Owen Hargreaves but he isn't expected back until September/October and who knows if he'll be the same.

What United needs is a player who doesn't demand exorbitant amounts of money or a high transfer fee, nor warrants a first-team place, per se.

But for crunch matches where you need a midfield battler, a player who isn't afraid to get dirty or put in a tackle or two, a player who can put extreme amounts of pressure on the opposition quickly and close down on the ball-carrier, you could do a lot worse than Stiliyan Petrov.

This past season with Aston Villa he has proved that he is a good defensive midfielder.

He isn't exactly of the highest quality or a world-class "galactico" so to speak, but when you need him to put in a hard-working shift he is more than willing to do so.

Not only that, but he is actually pretty good going forward as well.

In fact, back in his Celtic days when he was playing under Martin O'Niell he used to play as a CM in the box-to-box sense and he knocked a good number of goals in, such as this beauty vs Stuttgart.

A little-known fact about him is that as of 2009, he is the tenth most prolific goal-scorer in SPL history (with 55).

Petrov is basically an all-around midfielder that I think Manchester United could benefit from, even if he doesn't feature constantly in the starting XI.

In a sense, he's almost like Steven Gerrard or Frank Lampard, although nowhere near their level.

Who knows, perhaps he can strike up some sort of magical partnership with Berbatov and do wonders for Manchester United?

Either that, or he could be completely out of his depth and a utter flop.